


Disappeared

by geeksthetics



Category: Chronicles of Narnia (Movies), Chronicles of Narnia - All Media Types, Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2018-09-01
Packaged: 2019-07-05 11:54:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15863103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geeksthetics/pseuds/geeksthetics
Summary: Oreius eyes her, somewhat exasperated. “If I may be so brazen, Tarkheena, but it has been almost a week. My soldiers and I have scoured the forests; we have even enlisted the help of the Narnians in our search. There can be no more denying that the Kings and Queens of Narnia are no longer with us,” he says, rather helplessly.





	Disappeared

“No worries, Tumnus,” Lucy said. Her eyes shone bright with the excitement of a hunter ready to chase its prey. “It’s only a ride through the woods, one of many we’ve made before. We’ll be back before you know it.”

Mr. Tumnus clenches his scarf tightly at the memory of the ill-fated day. His chest constricts. He finds sudden difficulty in breathing. He begins to panic. He can’t breathe, he can’t breathe. He tries to take a large gulp of air only to end in a coughing fit. Noticing the faun’s struggle, Prince Corin pounds his back until his coughing subsides.  Mr. Tumnus gives the boy a meek smile of gratitude. Corin returns it with a stare.

Corin has never been one to remain somber, even in the most serious of situations, but today – for an obvious reason – he doesn’t have it in him to crack one of his inappropriately-timed jokes or to swear to punish whomever he deems deserving of it. He can only stare on as his brother stutters incredulously.

Corin stands in a study in the private wing of the castle Cair Paravel. This is the High King Peter’s study. Corin has sat in it a very many times, mostly with his father King Lune at his side as he and the High King discuss some foreign affairs over a casual afternoon meal. Today Corin stands with his twin brother, two Calormene noblewomen, and a faun as the general of the Narnian army towers above them with grave news.

“They’ve disappeared?” Prince Cor can hardly get the words out of his mouth. He’s at a loss for words. He doesn’t know what to think, what to say, what to do. He plops himself onto a seat across the High King’s desk. Everyone stands to the other side of the desk, leaving empty the high-backed, velvet-cushioned seat that the High King normally inhabits. It feels wrong taking his seat now that he is nowhere to take it back.

Aravis Tarkheena speaks up and asks the question that is on all of their minds. “How do we know they’ve disappeared? How do we know they are not lost or that they’ve only gone further into another part of the woods? How do we know it is not something else?” Her voice is even but the underlying hint of desperation and frustration is noticed by Cor. He is rather impressed by how she seems to be taking the news considering her closeness to the two youngest monarchs. Her hands are folded in front of her as she takes in the centaur before her with a steady gaze.

Oreius eyes her, somewhat exasperated. “If I may be so brazen, Tarkheena, but it has been almost a week. My soldiers and I have scoured the forests; we have even enlisted the help of the Narnians in our search. There can be no more denying that the Kings and Queens of Narnia are no longer with us,” he says, rather helplessly.

A gasp interrupts him. Lasaraleen Tarkheena’s hand flies to cover her mouth. Her face is a mask of horror, her watery eyes threatening to spill over at any moment. “Do you think they’ve been assassinated?” she breathes out. The Calormene noblewoman had launched into a fit of hysterics the moment the news had been broken to them. She had been a good friend of the Gentle Queen and could not bare the idea of her disappearance. It had taken the others several tries to settle her down until her gut-wrenching sobs had turned into quiet sniffles.

Aravis’s hand instantly shoots out to comfort her friend. “No, of course not,” she says, rubbing soothing circles into her friend’s back. “What our dear centaur meant to say was that the Kings and Queens are no longer in Narnia.”

All eyes turn to Mr. Tumnus.

Out of the six in the room, the faun seems to be the most knowledgeable with the Pevensie monarchs’ pre-Narnian history. By their logic, it is only reasonable that he will be the one to explain away their doubts and fears. Expect: Mr. Tumnus has no understanding whatsoever of how the Pevensies’ traveling between worlds works or where they could be at this precise moment. He had originally believed that Lucy’s ramblings of the city of War Drobe in the land of Spare Oom meant that she had come from a kingdom hidden away from the rest of the Narnians, a kingdom so small that only the four siblings resided in it. It had been more than slightly unfathomable when years later she went on to properly explain to her where she truly came from. She called it England (what a horrid name for a land, he remembers thinking) and there she had a father and a mother, both of whom loved her and her siblings very dearly, only they had been forced apart by a terrible war that her “Ing-land” was fighting alongside what she called the Allies, as they tried to defeat the “Axis” forces. He had written off her ramblings as that of a sleep-addled brain as she had shared her story after a particularly long and tiresome trek through the north.

Now he wishes he had paid closer attention to the Valiant Queen’s words. Not only was there a possibility of him having missed some key details that could aid them in their current search for the Kings and Queens, but he missed many key details in the Queen’s life. He wishes he can go back in time and have paid closer attention to her. He suddenly wants to be able to remember everything she’d said, word-for-word, perhaps even have written it all down. If he had known then that he would lose one of his greatest friends, he would have done anything to make sure that he could keep the memory of her alive.

Realizing that the others in the study are expectantly waiting for him to respond, Mr. Tumnus clears his throat. He is cut off by a sudden gust of wind blowing out the candles in the room. They are engulfed in darkness as the moon-less night offers them no reprieve from the obscurity the snuffed candles have brought. All is still in the study. No one dares to so much as breathe.

Then a softer gust of wind blows through. One meager candle flickers brightly, bringing with it the sense of all-encompassing warmth and comfort. There is only one name in their minds: Aslan.

The Great Lion emerges from the shadows. His gold mane brings an added light source to the room.

All six immediately bow at the sight of the Lion. They all try their best not to stare in awe as the Great Beast stands before them. However many times any of them may have been honored with His presence, they will always be amazed by His magnitude.

No one speaks. They hold their breaths as they wait for Aslan to answer their questions.

The Lion only smiles.

And they suddenly understand.

With a flick of His mane, the rest of the candles flicker back to life, reemerging the study into light. Aslan slowly saunters out of the study and into the hall where the six know He will disappear from.

Lasaraleen is clutching Aravis’s hand as fresh tears slide down her cheeks. Corin reassuringly claps his brother on the back; it is the first that evening that a sliver of his normal self is shown. Oreius shares a small smile with Mr. Tumnus. The thickness in the air has been replaced with one more bittersweet. While they can all heave a sigh of relief at the knowledge that the Kings and Queens are alive and well, there is a deep aching in their hearts at the realization that they may never see their close friends and confidants in their lifetimes. The King and Queens have returned home – their first home. They are in that strange England that few can comprehend of. There they will continue to live their lives until they can return. Because there is no doubt that the Pevensies _will_ return to Narnia, but now the question that lies ahead is _when_?


End file.
